Today millions of people are confined to wheelchairs throughout the world; and this number inreases daily through automobile accidents, various diseases and old age. Many of these people drive automobiles or could drive automobiles if some suitable provision could be made for loading and unloading the wheelchair from the automobile; so that the person using the wheelchair could slide off the automobile seat onto the wheelchair and vice-versa. At the present time, perons who use wheelchairs and who also are not capable of loading the wheelchairs into the trunk of an automobile, that is, capable of at least some limited use of their legs to walk from the rear of the automobile to the door at the driver's side, are confined to the use of relatively large two-door automobiles. The reason for this is that in large two-door automobiles the door extends past the front seat toward the rear of the automobile and the wheelchair user then can grasp the wheelchair, lean forward in the seat, pull the seat forward, and push or shove the wheelchair into the space between the seats. A similar contortion is necessary in order to take the wheelchair from behind the seat and place it alongside the seat, so that the person may use it.
Obviously a great deal of physical exertion is required to accomplish this maneuver for a person sitting in the front seat of the automobile; so that frail persons or persons who do not have a great deal of strength in their arms cannot avail themselves of this technique.
Even if a person is able to handle a wheelchair in this manner, the wheelchair user is clearly restricted in the type of automobile which he may use. He is precluded from use of any four-door automobile, pick-up trucks and most of the smaller compact economical automobiles. For persons who are unable to use large two-door sedans and store a wheelchair behind the front seat of the sedan, the only other alternative available in the past has been to purchase a specially equipped van having hydraulic lifts and the like for loading and unloading persons in wheelchairs from the van. Once a person is within the van he then can transfer himself from the wheelchair to the driver's seat if he desires. The initial cost of such vans, however, even without the conversion equipment is quite high; and when the hydraulic lifts and other paraphernalia is added to the van, the resultant cost is nearly prohibitive to most people.
Recognizing the problem that wheelchair users have in loading and unloading a wheelchair from a vehicle, some solutions to car-top mounted wheelchair loader mechanisms have been proposed in the past. One such mechanism utilizes a rather complicated mechanical structure with a large carrier frame into which the wheelchair is attached and which is lowered from the loader at the top of the vehicle and lifted back into the loader by means of a chain link mechanism. The large number of moving parts in such a device cause it to be initially expensive and susceptible to breakdowns and relatively costly repairs.
Another type of top loading mechanism for mounting a loader for a wheelchair on the top of the vehicle has been developed by Applicant, and this loader is considerably simpler in construction than the mechanism described in the previous paragraph. This simplified top loader forms the subject matter of applicant's co-pending application Ser. No. 801,025, filed May 27, 1977. The mechanism of this copending application however, still involves a relatively large number of parts to effect the loading and unloading of wheelchairs into and from a loader mounted on the top of a motor vehicle.
It is desirable to satisfy the need for a wheelchair loader which can be used with all types of cars or trucks, including economical sub-compact automobiles, pick-up trucks, station wagons, and four-door sedans and which is of simple and economical construction.